32/50
American remake (in English) of the French series HPI (2021)
Scenario
Follows Morgan, a single mother of three, and how thanks to her exceptional mind, she is able to help solve a crime while reorganizing evidence during her shift as a cleaner for the police department. Despite her sky-high IQ, excellent memory, and extensive knowledge of the arcane, Morgan makes a number of basic law mistakes that anyone who has ever watched a law show on TV would know not to make. In the first episode, for example, she obtains a document from a locked safe in a suspect-victim’s law office that would never be admissible in court – illegally obtained evidence. Nor could it be used to obtain other evidence – violation of the “fruit of the poisonous tree” legal doctrine. In episode 2, she must be reminded to wear gloves before handling evidence at a crime scene, and in episode 3, she is told to wear gloves before handling evidence at a crime scene. #3, he removes all documented evidence from the police station, totally breaking the chain of custody and making everything he removed also no longer admissible in a court of law.
just in a different wrapper
HPI Remake (2021). I waited 4 episodes, which gave the show plenty of opportunities to prove itself. This is the exact same formula that every “detective”, “cop”, or “legal” show adopts. This is more along the lines of “light drama” than more realistic shows, but it’s still the same formula. It’s “The Finder”, “Elsbeth”, “So Help Me Todd”, etc… If it’s “based on a French series”, that simply means the French are perfectly capable of using the same tired, hackneyed formula that American shows profusely abuse, that’s all.
and there’s a problem
Male + female “detective” team, one is shallow and aloof, the other serious and by the book, they clash, but ultimately support each other. The clues are MIRACULOUS in nature and often nothing that a viewer, any viewer, can pick up on… a who-done-it series where the audience CANNOT figure out the outcome because they are not privy to the miraculous (and hidden) clues that are yet to come but were supposed to be there all along. 2-5 minute opening main story… random 30-35 minute “case” that plays out similarly to every other case… 2-5 minute closing main story scene to add a cliffhanger for next week…
wash, rinse, repeat
I’m sick of this overused formula. The premiere of these types of series can be interesting because it’s a prelude to the main story… but the pattern of the formula is set in episode 2… and then repeated over and over for as long as the series is on the air; Often, the show gets cancelled long before the main storyline even reaches a resolution, meaning the missing father in this series will NEVER get an answer or conclusion because he’s just a “phishing line” of the story to keep viewers hooked for next week. Olsen and Sunjata do a good job, they fit the characters well… some of the other cast members (mostly the cops), not so much.
which is either hit or miss
And each episode basically has a large guest cast… Overall, it’s a bubblegum detective series… not really awful, but not exactly deep or complex in nature. I can see why some might like it, but I’d be surprised if it sticks around for very long.